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Snow and Leverage

Author

Listed:
  • Xavier Giroud
  • Holger M. Mueller
  • Alex Stomper
  • Arne Westerkamp

Abstract

Based on a sample of highly leveraged Austrian ski hotels undergoing debt restructurings, we show that reducing a debt overhang leads to a significant improvement in operating performance. Changes in leverage in the debt restructurings are instrumented with Unexpected Snow, which captures the extent to which a ski hotel experienced unusually good or bad snow conditions prior to the debt restructuring. Unexpected Snow provides lending banks with the counterfactual of what would have been the ski hotel's operating performance in the absence of strategic default, allowing them to distinguish between ski hotels that are in distress due to negative demand shocks ("liquidity defaulters") and those that are in distress due to debt overhang ("strategic defaulters"). The Author 2011. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Society for Financial Studies. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com., Oxford University Press.

Suggested Citation

  • Xavier Giroud & Holger M. Mueller & Alex Stomper & Arne Westerkamp, 2012. "Snow and Leverage," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 25(3), pages 680-710.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:rfinst:v:25:y:2012:i:3:p:680-710
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    7. John P. Berns & Maria Figueroa-Armijos & Serge P. da Motta Veiga & Timothy C. Dunne, 2020. "Dynamics of Lending-Based Prosocial Crowdfunding: Using a Social Responsibility Lens," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 161(1), pages 169-185, January.
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    10. Vithessonthi, Chaiporn & Tongurai, Jittima, 2015. "The effect of firm size on the leverage–performance relationship during the financial crisis of 2007–2009," Journal of Multinational Financial Management, Elsevier, vol. 29(C), pages 1-29.
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    13. Muermann, Alexander & Rauter, Thomas, 2016. "Prestige and loan pricing," CFS Working Paper Series 544, Center for Financial Studies (CFS).
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    15. Orhan Akisik & Graham Gal, 2014. "Financial performance and reviews of corporate social responsibility reports," Mathematical Methods of Operations Research, Springer;Gesellschaft für Operations Research (GOR);Nederlands Genootschap voor Besliskunde (NGB), vol. 25(3), pages 259-288, December.
    16. David Yechiam Aharon & Yossi Yagil, 2019. "The Impact of Financial Leverage on the Cost of Equity," International Journal of Economics and Financial Issues, Econjournals, vol. 9(2), pages 175-188.
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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • G32 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Financing Policy; Financial Risk and Risk Management; Capital and Ownership Structure; Value of Firms; Goodwill
    • G34 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Mergers; Acquisitions; Restructuring; Corporate Governance

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